News From Fort Schuyler
October 3, 2001 - Volume 5, No. 27
ABS AT WTC -Miraculously, even though the New York City Executive Office of
the American Bureau of Shipping was located on the 91st floor of the WTC1,
directly below the aircraft's impact, none of its employees, including
several Maritime College graduates, was seriously injured. According to a 12
September ABS press release all of its employees evacuated safely with
"physical injuries limited to minor cuts and abrasions.
(http://www.eagle.org )
NEWS FROM THE WEST - Captain PAUL LOBO, Class of 1969, a pilot with the San
Francisco Bar Pilots, writes, "Truly sad news indeed. I was wondering when
we would start to hear the names of our guys who worked downtown. We pilots
here in San Francisco, BILL GRIEG [Class of 1974], BRUCE HORTON [Class of
1983] and myself are well. We have been taking extra precautions since the
WTC. We have been boarding ships offshore with armed USCG personnel, either
for pre doc work or for our security. These men look like boys to me but we
are glad to have them along. We have already had one bomb scare which didn't
amount to anything luckily. Piloted the DENALI [Alaska Tanker Company] the
other day and Capt JOHN MOORE [Class 1984], JEFF SPILLANE, [Class of 1969]
and one other chap were working on there, so it was quite the Schuyler
show." (http://www.sfbarpilots.com )
NICE NOTE FROM NEW SUBSCRIBER - CANDY DEL REY, the parent of a cadet in his
mug year at Fort Schuyler, writes: "Although the contents of your e-mail
[NFFS for 28 September] was certainly not what I would have chosen (if given
a choice) for the very first correspondence ever received by me as a parent
of a first year SUNY Maritime cadet.......I do want to thank and commend you
and all who communicated through you at this time of sorrow for the strength
you instilled in me. I've always considered myself strong minded, a survivor
so to speak, just getting acclimated to the silence of my home without my
only child now living at the Fort Schuyler Maritime campus. Yet, the
distance of 1300 miles between my son and me during the tragedy of 9/11
dissolved my strength as I became sickened in my mind and heart with every
news broadcast. Of course, I was relieved with the sound of Jorge's voice,
especially to learn that the campus was spared, at least physically. Of
course I gave blood through my hospital district, and donate each time,
given the opportunity, through firefighters on street corners or the like.
However, I must admit that it was through your correspondence, only, that my
strength began to rebuild. Thanks, from the bottom of my heart, for
re-creating positiveness within me, and ...for the reassurance that SUNY
Maritime College is first and foremost."
STILL VERY SPECIAL BUT NOT SPECIALIZED - The State University has
restructured its 64 campuses so that Maritime is now designated as one of
the Colleges of Technology within SUNY. In a 6 September memo to the
Maritime College community, Admiral DAVID C. BROWN noted that: "As a result,
the campus was just awarded a grant of $17,000 for a video conferencing
facility, which will be installed in the old Audio-Visual Room" at the Fort.
In the same memo, Admiral Brown also indicated that the incoming Class of
2005 numbered 230, 219 of whom are registered for the regimental
degree-license program. According to the memo, the college is still on track
to meet its enrollment goal of 1,500 full time equivalent students by 2005.
MUSEUM UPDATE - The Maritime Industry Museum, located in the halls and on
the walls of Fort Schuyler, has selected a new leader. According to its
webpage (http://www.maritimeindustrymuseum.org ) "At the last meeting of the Board
of Directors, Captain ERIC JOHANSSON was appointed as the new Executive
Director of The Maritime Industry Museum replacing Captain ALLAN J.
LONSCHEIN [Class of 1946], who recently retired to Florida. Captain
Johansson, a Professor of Nautical Science in the Marine Transportation
Department, brings the same dedication and love of the Museum as our two
prior Executive Directors, Captain JEFFREY MONROE and Captain Lonschein. In
a mere fifteen years under their direction, the Museum rose from its infancy
to recognition by the New York Times when the Maritime Industry Museum and
the American Museum of Natural History were singled out in the Times review
of the book 'New York's 50 Best Museums for Cool Parents and Their Kids.'"
The Board also elected to its membership, CLIVE CUSSLER, world renowned
author, underwater explorer and discoverer of shipwrecks including the
"MONITOR" and Captain LONSCHEIN.
FACULTY PUBLICATION - The April 2001 issue of the Journal of Maritime Law
and Commerce (http://www.jmlc.org) features, "Maritime Disasters Through the
Ages," written by Professor JEFFREY A. WEISS, Class of 1978. It is based
on a presentation that Prof. Weiss gave at the Roger Williams Law School
Maritime Casualties and Limitation of Liability Symposium in August 2000.
The blurb for the article reads "I researched the causes and legal effects
of maritime disasters through the ages, some well known, and others not so
well known. Most everyone is familiar with the S.S. TITANIC and other
notable casualties. However, there were many more that I think were equally
interesting." Jeff, a member of the New York State and Federal Bars, is
Director of the Graduate School of International Transportation Management
here at Fort Schuyler.
ALUMNI AUTHOR - A sharp-eyed member of the college's Luce Library, JANE B.
FITZPATRICK, Associate Librarian, spotted this review for a book written by
MICHAEL HIGGINS, Class of 1982. This review for "Action in the South
Atlantic" appears on the U.S. Maritime Service Veterans web site
(http://www.usmm.org) It reads: "This is a very well done book, which covers the
sinking of the SS ESSO BATON ROUGE and SS OKLAHOMA off the Georgia coast in
April of 1942. The author is well-versed in maritime history, being a
graduate of the State University of New York Maritime College and founder of
the Confederate Navy Historical Society. He provides good background
material about the status of the Battle of the Atlantic to help the reader
to put the sinkings in perspective."
The book includes quotes from local residents who welcomed the survivors
of these two ships torpedoed within moments of each other, and comments from
the Captain of the U-boat. There are many illustrations to add to our
understanding of the story, which culminates in the identification of 5
unknown (badly burned) seamen in late 1998. It's a worthwhile book and a
good cause." The book is a fund-raiser for two merchant marine monuments
in Brunswick, and is available from The Propeller Club, Port of Brunswick,
PO Box 611, Brunswick GA 31521. The price is $6.50 plus $3.50 S&H.
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